This Christmas marks our tenth without Madeleine. There are no words really. Suffice to say, we will try and make it as happy a family occasion as possible despite being inevitably tinged with pain and longing. The year ahead too is one which we never could have believed or contemplated we would have to face.

Thank you so much to everyone who hasn’t forgotten about Madeleine, for all of your help and continued prayers. The support we continue to have from so many people, friends and strangers, will we’re sure, keep us strong and afloat during the difficult months to come.

Somebody knows. We just hope they find the courage and compassion to let us know too.

This is totally in line with what she has said this year....tRemember the stuff about her feeling Madeleine was not taken far and she thinks the answer is in Luz and she didnt want another year without answers.....One way or ther this is the year....imo we will get some kind of answer.....keeping us strong in the difficult months to come!!

I think some k8nd of endgame is in progress.....Hogan Howe,Clarrie were first moves....internet gone quiet with very little pro McCann stuff....this statement continues in that vein....who knows the detail.....whatever it will be tragic....perhaps turn all our ideas on their head and only then they can exit stage left for a life in sunnier climes....maybe even closer to Madeleine! To be fair we all need closure on this tragic mess!!!

_________________Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that countsWinston Churchill

The year ahead too is one which we never could have believed or contemplated we would have to face.

Thank you so much to everyone who hasn’t forgotten about Madeleine, for all of your help and continued prayers. The support we continue to have from so many people, friends and strangers, will we’re sure, keep us strong and afloat during the difficult months to come.

Somebody knows. We just hope they find the courage and compassion to let us know too.

I think they know the year ahead will be difficult and that the end is nigh... the charade will not keep going for much longer. I think it will be a relief for them when the case is finally brought to a close (hopefully with justice being served). Living like this cannot be easy for them or their family. I do wonder though if they actually know where the body of Madeleine is... I feel that there's a strong possibility that she is in or around PdL and that they havent been told exactly where. Some kind of bargaining tool from the VIPs as well as preventing Kate from giving the game away. Having said that, if cremated.. could be different. Whenever Kate and Gerry speak you can be sure they are giving out a message to someone ....

Kate McCann will lay presents in her daughter Madeleine's bedroom on Christmas morning and hopes one day she will be back home to open them. A stocking full of gifts will be kept in Maddie's pretty pink room which has remained untouched since she vanished nearly a decade ago. It has become a shrine to her and is full of photos, drawings, and untouched Christmas and birthday presents.Mrs McCann's gesture comes after she told how she bitterly misses sharing Maddie's excitement during the festive season and listening to her singing carols.The anguished mother, who faces her milestone 10th Christmas without her eldest child, said the occasion would be 'tinged with pain and longing.' She said: 'She should be here and we should be celebrating with her.'But ex-GP Mrs McCann and heart doctor husband Gerry, both 48, will try and make it 'as happy a family occasion as possible' for the sake of their 11-year-old twins Sean and Amelie.Maddie's parents have never given up hope that she could still be alive. She would now be aged 13.

And to their daughter's kidnapper or their friends and family they say: 'Somebody knows. We just hope they find the courage and compassion to let us know too.'The brave couple, in a new posting on the official Find Maddie website, said they hope support from others will 'keep us strong and afloat during the difficult months to come.'They have previously said: 'We have not lost hope that we may get to celebrate another Christmas with her. 'If anything can drive us on, that most definitely will. The urge to look for Madeleine absolutely hasn't changed at all.'The family are expected to have a quiet family Christmas at home in Rothley, Leicestershire. The brave couple (pictured) said they hope support from others will 'keep us strong and afloat during the difficult months to come'+2The brave couple (pictured) said they hope support from others will 'keep us strong and afloat during the difficult months to come'Prayers will be said for Maddie during the village church's Christmas Day service and a candle for the missing teenager burns round the clock beside the war memorial.Scotland Yard are chasing up a final 'last throw of the dice' lead that three-year-old Maddie was snatched by child traffickers during a bungled burglary at a holiday apartment in Portugal's Praia da Luz in May 2007.Mr and Mrs McCann say in the shortest and simplest of festive postings, with no mention of the Met Police's failed hunt to find their daughter: 'This Christmas marks our tenth without Madeleine.'There are no words really. The year ahead too is one which we never could have believed or contemplated we would have to face.'They thank everyone 'who hasn't forgotten about Madeleine for their help and continued prayers.' They add: 'The support we continue to have from so many people, friends and strangers, will we're sure, keep us strong and afloat during the difficult months to come.'The McCanns, in their online message decorated with Christmas trees and stars, wish their supporters 'hope, joy and peace' for the New Year.